Numeral pin setting mechanism in calculating machines and the like apparatus

ABSTRACT

A numeral pin setting mechanism in a calculating machine or the like apparatus, wherein a mechanism is provided for operating a column shifting mechanism, and is operatively associated with the individual numeral keys by the drive of a motor.

O Unlted States Patent 1151 3,638,855 Miyake Feb. 1, 1972 [54] NUMERALPIN SETTING MECHANISM IN CALCULATING MACHINES AND [56] References CitedTHE LIKE APPARATUS UNITED STATES PATENTS 1 lnvcmori mi Miyake,Kunilachi-shh Japan 3,086,700 4/1963 0081mm... ..235/60 TK 73 A w hC L ky 3.093,304 6/1963 Starrett ....235/60 TK ss'gnee 3,3l7,l28 5/l967Schmidt ..235/60 TK [22] Filed: Jan. 7, 1970 Primary ExaminerStephen .l.Tomsky [2]] llss Attorney-Hall, Pollock & Vande Sande [30] ForeignApplication Priority Data [57] ABSTRACT A numeral pin setting mechanismin a calculating machine or May 15,1969 Japan ..44/376l8 the like ppwherein a mechanism is provided for operating a column shiftingmechanism, and is operatively as- U.S. Cl. ..235/60 TK, 235/63 Dsociated with the individual numeral keys by the drive ofa t [58] FieldofSearch ..235/60.4l-60.46,

235/632, 63.0, 60 TK, 60 R, 62 B 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTED ma11912 SHEET 1 BF INVENTOR Kenji Hi Ju- ATTORNEY PATENTEIJ FEB H912 SHEEY2 BF 2 uuu lHlllLlL.

INVENTOR Hiya!- BY 7 0 W 9 Awflm ATTORNEY NUMERAL PIN SETTING MECHANISMIN CALCULATING MACHINES AND THE LIKE APPARATUS The present inventionrelates to a numeral pin setting mechanism in a calculating machine orthe like apparatus.

A conventional numeral pin setting mechanism of the type described is soconstructed that when a selected one of numeral buttons, respectivelycarrying numerals -9 is depressed, a pin corresponding to the numeral ofsaid numeral button which is stored in the known pin carriage is pushedforward and at the same time a column shifting lever cooperative witheach numeral setting lever and adapted to restrain or release said pincarriage is operated to shift the column one pitch.

In such a numeral pin setting mechanism as described above, shifting ofthe columns one at a time is effected by the tensile strength of aspring which is restrained or released. Therefore, in order to increasethe speed of the numeral pin setting operation, the tensile strength ofthe spring has to be made large so as to improve the responsivecharacteristic. However, there is a limitation in increasing the speedof the numeral pin setting operation because, since the force requiredfor operating the numeral key is attributed mostly to the load of saidspring, the key touch will become objectionably heavy if the tensilestrength of the spring is increased.

The object of the present invention is to provide a numeral pin settingmechanism in a calculating machine or the like apparatus, which providesfor a soft key touch and enables the speed of the numeral pin settingoperation to be increased.

The numeral pin setting mechanism according to the present invention ischaracterized by the fact that the drive of a motor is utilized foroperating a column shifting mechanism operatively associated with theindividual numeral keys, whereby the key touch is made light.

The present invention will appear more clearly from the followingdetailed description when taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, showing by way of example a preferred embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a preferred embodiment of the numeral pinsetting mechanism according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the position of the mechanism with thenumeral keys bring in their stationary positions;

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the position of the mechanism with one ofthe numeral keys being depressed;

FIG. 4 is a side view illustrating the operation of the column shiftingmechanism;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line AA of FIG. 2 and FIG.6 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line BB of FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings, numeral 1 designates a numeral setting leverwhich is, as shown in FIG. 2, pivotably supported by a cut lug 2a of akey board 2 and biased in a clockwise direction by a spring 3. Numeral 4designates a pin pushing lever having one end pivotally connected to thelower end of the numeral setting lever 1 and the other end extendingthrough a slit, formed in a guide plate 5, for sliding movement therein,said guide plate 5 being secured to a machine frame. The pin pushinglever 4 is formed with a projection 4a which, as shown in FIG. 1, is inabutting engagement with an upright arm of a sensing lever 7 which hasone end slidably extending through the guide plate 5 and the other endslidably extending through another guide plate 6 secured to the machineframe. Numeral 8 designates a pivot lever having one end pivotallymounted on a pin 9 fixed to the machine frame and the other endconnected to the sensing lever 7. Numeral l0 designates a connectinglever by which a swing lever 12, pivotably mounted on a shaft 11 fixedto the machine frame, and the pivot lever 8 are operatively connectedwith each other. Numeral l3 designates a transmission lever having oneend connected to the swing lever 12 and the other end being bent uprightand formed with U-shaped slot 13A in said upright portion (see FIG. 5)in which a depressing lever 15, rotatably mounted on a fixed pin 14, isreceived. The transmission lever 13 and the depressing lever 15 areyieldingly connected with each other by a spring 16. The depressinglever 15 is formed with a bent lug 15b which is in engagement with aclutch lever 21 to be described later. Numeral 17 designates a drivenlever pivotably mounted in a fixed pin 18 and always being held in theposition shown in FIG. 2 by a stopper 19, fixed to the machine frame,and a spring 20.

The clutch lever 21 is pivotably mounted on a pin 22 fixed to the drivenlever 17. A positioning lever 24 is pivotably mounted on a pin 23 whichis also fixed to the driven lever 17. One end 24a of the positioninglever 24 is received in a recessed portion 21A of the clutch lever 21,as shown in FIG. 2, by the action of a spring 25. A clutch claw member26 is constantly driven in a clockwise direction from a motor (notshown) and held out of engagement with the clutch lever 21. Numeral 27adesignates a connecting lever by which a swing lever 27, pivotablymounted on the shaft 11, and the driven lever 17 are operativelyconnected with each other. Numeral 28 designates a connecting leverconnecting a pivot lever 31 with swing lever 27 (see FIG. 1), whichpivotlever 31 has one end pivotably mounted on a pin 29 fixed to themachine frame. A carriage shifting lever 30 has one end in slidingengagement with a slit of the guide plate 5 and the other end in slidingengagement with a slit of the guide plate 6, and is urged by a spring 32in the direction of the arrow a. Another carriage shifting lever 33 ispivotably mounted on a fixed shaft 34, and held in engagement with thecarriage shifting lever 30 at the position of a projection 30 a, of thelatter (see FIG. 2) under the biasing force of a spring 35. A pincarriage 36 is pivotably mounted on a rod 37 provided on the machineframe, and accommodates therein pins 38 corresponding to the numerals0-9. The pin carriage 36 is provided with column shifting stoppers 39.The above-described construction of the pin carriage 36 is the same asthat known in the art. A spring 40 acts on the pin carriage 36 to pullit upward as viewed in FIG. 1, that is, in a direction of highercolumns.

Now, the operation of the numeral pin setting mechanism of the inventionconstructed as described above will be explained hereunder: In FIG. 2,when a selected one to the numeral setting lever 1 (one corresponding tothe numeral 5 in the illustration) is depressed, the corresponding pin38 is pushed forward by the pin pushing lever 4 in the direction of thearrow b and at the same time the sensing lever 7 is also moved in thesame direction by the projection 4a of said pin pushing lever 4. Themotion of the sensing lever 7 is transmitted to the transmission lever13 through the members 8, l0 and 12, causing the same to move in thedirection of the arrow c. Since the depressing lever 15 is received atits portion 15a in a slot 13a formed in the transmission lever 13 in theway as shown in FIG. 6, it is pivoted in a clockwise direction. As aresult, the clutch lever 21 in engagement with the bent lug 15b of thedepressing lever 15 is pivotally moved in a counterclockwise directionabout the pin 22 and brought into engagement with the clutch claw member26 (See FIG. 3). Thus, the driven lever 17 is pivotally moved about theshaft 18 in a counterclockwise direction, together with the lever 21, bythe clutch claw member 26 which is rotating in a clockwise direction.The clutch claw member 26 and the clutch lever 21 are in such positionalrelation that the extent of engagement therebetween will becomeincreasingly large, once they have been engaged with each other evenslightly. Therefore, the spring 25 is only required to be of a strengthsufficient to cause a return movement of the clutch lever 21. The amountof the pivotal movement of the clutch lever 21 can be adjusted by aprojection 21a of said clutch lever and a bent lug 17a, of the drivenlever 17. The movement of the driven lever 17 is finally transmitted tothe column shifting lever 30 through the members 27a, 27, 28 and 29operatively connected to said drive lever, to cause the same to slide inthe direction of the arrow b. Column shifting by the spring 40 isprohibited by the engagement between the column shifting lever 33 andthe 0 pin 38a of the pin carriage 36. However, when the column shiftinglever 30 is moved in the direction of the arrow b incident to thepivotal movement of the driven lever 17, the column shifting lever 33 inengagement with said column shifting lever 30 at the projection 30a isturned clockwise to be disengaged from the pin 38 a (see FIG. 4), sothat the pin carriage 36 is shifted about one-half pitch under thebiasing force of the spring 40 and stopped thereat due to the engagementbetween I the column shifting lever 30 and the stopper 39.

The clutch claw member 26 and the clutch lever 22 are arranged such thatthey are held in engagement only for a period necessary for the movementof the column shifting lever 30. When the clutch lever 21 is releasedfrom engagement with the clutch claw member 26 as shown in FIG. 4, it isreturned to the stationary position of FIG. 2 by the action of thespring 25. It will, therefore, be appreciated that the driven lever 17can return to the stationary position under the biasing force of thespring 20, without engaging the clutch claw member 26. The returnmovement of the driven lever 17 releases the column shifting lever 30,so that said column shifting lever is returned to the position of FIG. 2and the column shifting lever 33 is also returned to the originalposition under the biasing force of the spring 35. Since the engagementbetween the column shifting lever 30 and the stopper 39 is released, thepin carriage 36 is again liberated and shifted under the biasing forceof the spring 40. Thus, the column shifting lever 33 is again broughtinto engagement with the 0 pin 38 a of the next column and shifting ofone column is accomplished. By this step, a complete cycle of thenumeral pin setting operation is completed.

If the next cycle of operation is performed, with the previouslyoperated numeral setting lever 1 being held in its depressed position,an error in calculation result or mechanical locking will result.According to the present invention, the mechanism is provided with asafety device to ensure that the operation described above be completedin one cycle without fail. Namely, the bottom of the U-shaped slot 13Aof the transmission lever 13 is located in substantially the samehorizontal level as the pin 14. As the depressing lever 15 is rotatedclockwise by the transmission lever 13, the bottom of the U- shaped slot13A is depressed by the depressing lever 15 in engagement therewith and,when the engagement between the clutch lever 21 and the clutch clawmember 26 has been completed, the portion 15a of said depressing leveris released from engagement with the transmission lever 13 and isreturned to the stationary position shown in FIG. 2 under the biasingforce of the spring 41, overcoming the spring 16.

In the conventional mechanism, the numeral pine setting lever isoperated with a force which is sufficient to overcome the frictionalforce created by the tensile strength of the column shifting spring 40,to release the engagement between the column shifting level 33 and thepin carriage 36, and hence the operation becomes heavy. According to thepresent invention, however, use is made of the drive of a motor toeffect the numeral pin setting operation. Therefore, the key touch canbe made light and furthermore the operational speed can be increased byincreasing the tensile strength of the column shifting spring 40independently of the key touch.

What is claimed is:

l. A numeral pin setting mechanism for a calculating machine or the likecomprising,

a plurality of manually operable keys (1),

a pin box (36),

a pin pushing lever (4) operatively connected with each key,

a rotating clutch claw member (26),

a clutch member (21) engageable with said clutch claw member in responseto actuation of any said pin pushing lever by operation of theassociated key to set a pin in said pin box,

and column shifting means (17, 27a, 27, 28, 29, 30) responsive toactuation of said clutch member (2]) by said clutch claw member (26) forshifting said pin box by one column on each numeral setting operation.2. The mechanism of claim 1 in WhlClI said column shifting meanscomprises a driven lever (17) which is rotatable about a fixed pivot inresponse to engagement of said clutch member with said clutch clawmember, and means responsive to the turning of said driven lever forreleasing said pin box to permit column shifting of said pin box.

3. The mechanism of claim 1 in which said responsive means includes acolumn shifting lever (33) which normally blocks shifting by said pinbox, and lever means (271:, 27, 28, 29, 30) for actuating said columnshifting lever to a nonblocking position in response to the turning ofsaid driven lever.

1. A numeral pin setting mechanism for a calculating machine or the likecomprising, a plurality of manually operable keys (1), a pin box (36), apin pushing lever (4) operatively connected with each key, a rotatingclutch claw member (26), a clutch member (21) engageable with saidclutch claw member in response to actuation of any said pin pushinglever by operation of the associated key to set a pin in said pin box,and column shifting means (17, 27a, 27, 28, 29, 30) responsive toactuation of said clutch member (21) by said clutch claw member (26) forshifting said pin box by one column on each numeral setting operation.2. The mechanism of claim 1 in which said column shifting meanscomprises a driven lever (17) which is rotatable about a fixed pivot inresponse to engagement of said clutch member with said clutch clawmember, and means responsive to the turning of said driven lever forreleasing said pin box to permit column shifting of said pin box.
 3. Themechanism of claim 1 in which said responsive means includes a columnshifting lever (33) which normally blocks shifting by said pin box, andlever means (27a, 27, 28, 29, 30) for actuating said column shiftinglever to a nonblocking position in response to the turning of saiddriven lever.